Mrs. Fullerton's Short Story 'The Shining Houses'

1045 Words3 Pages

Changes are inevitable in life whether they be personal or societal, but they may or may not always be good, depending on how individuals view that change. In the short story, “The Shining Houses”, people who are from a younger generation want to expand their community so it better fits the modern advancement however, all this would occur at the cost of bringing down valuables that belong to an old lady. The change that the community wants to make is to upgrade all the houses into “shiny houses”, while Mrs. Fullerton does not want to give up her house that she has lived in for “fifty years”, she describes it as “something else”. We all at some point in our lives get the opportunity to right the wrong, in this case Mary, the main character …show more content…

People are often criticized or even attacked sometimes for disagreeing with the popular opinion. In the short ‘The shining houses’, Mary, the protagonist of the story has an opinion that vastly differs from the rest involving Mrs. Fullerton’s house. The community wants to get rid of the old lady’s house just because it does not resonate with the beauty of the rest of the “shining houses” in the community. Mary is a sign of hope for Mrs. Fullerton when two individuals Carl and Edith force her to sign the petition to eradicate the “fifty year old” house, Mary stands up for the old lady’s rights. Mary refuses to conform to what the society believes in despite the overwhelming opposition coming “invincibly from all sides”, she disagrees with the destruction of old ways of the community. Mrs. Fullerton’s house symbolizes the old way of life and tradition that people adhered by so, the destruction of that house would constitute the bullying of the older generation by the younger generation in a way. The stability of an entire community lies in the perception of the old ways as a building block for newer ideas and development. Change does not always constitute a good result in the sense that some people might be harmed by a particular change while other’s benefit, a legitimate change should have the characteristic of satisfying everybody while respecting the opinion of the …show more content…

Mary definitely has an understanding of this aspect when she is told to “think of the community”, this demonstrates to the reader that Mary is impartial, meaning that she takes into account all aspects of an issue before making the decision to support the old woman. Mary realizes that she cannot possibly compete with the overwhelming support for the community’s plan to drive out Mrs. Fullerton, nonetheless her morals and dignity is still intact because Mary does not budge from her stand for the rights of the old lady. She knows that all she can do is keep a “disaffected heart” and continue to do what is right in her mind. The story also serves to portray the hypocrisy of the community towards Mrs. Fullerton because it does not take into account Mrs. Fullerton’s opinion while she was one of the founders of the community since she has lived in it for over “fifty years”. The young generation in a way has mistreated the elderly in this story therefore, giving us a chance to make an inference that changes to a system are implemented regardless of the approval of the weak, which in this case is the old lady who is denied the chance to exercise her

Open Document